Acting boss will read riot act to Hearts bad boys

Caretaker manager Stevie Frail last night vowed to restore Hearts' discipline after admitting their triple red-card shame at Tannadice was down to a lack of leadership at the club.

Frail took full control of team affairs for the first time in yesterday's 4-1 defeat at Dundee United - a match the home club had wanted the SPL to postpone after Phil O'Donnell's tragic death.

But it was far from an auspicious debut as Marius Zaliukas, Lee Wallace and Michael Stewart were sent off by referee Alan Freeland during a frenetic second half, with a Barry Robson hat- trick condemning Hearts to a sixth successive loss.

Stewart's dismissal was the most bizarre after the midfielder, only recently back from a three-game ban, picked up a second yellow card during injury-time for becoming embroiled in an angry verbal confrontation with one of his own fans.

It raised the Tynecastle club's red-card tally to an astonishing 26 since the start of season 2005-06 and Frail believes not having a managerial figurehead has allowed the players to escape scot-free for too long.

"The discipline at the club has been inherently wrong for a long time," said Frail, in charge while Hearts seek an experienced, permanent appointment. "With no real leadership or a specific person in charge, it has been allowed to slip. That stops as of now.

"We need to make sure we cut out petulance. They reacted to decisions they felt were wrong, particularly the first sending off, and it snowballed from there. It's unacceptable. We must cut it out because we are picking up bookings for nothing.

"I've been given the authority to pick the team but we'll need to see whether I have the same authority when it comes to fining people for ill-discipline.

"Hopefully, I will, because that has been a major factor in what has gone on."

Zaliukas was first to go, after 66 minutes, for a swipe at Lee Wilkie. Wallace followed four minutes from the end after tripping Robson in the area and Hearts' day of shame was complete when Stewart was also sent packing.

"Two of the incidents are inconclusive, from what I have seen so far, but Michael Stewart just needs to be told," insisted Frail. "He said he was berating a fan who had given him stick.

"We are the first to take the praise from our fans so, equally, we need to be big enough to stand up and take it when they give us some stick. You cannot shout back at them.

"I had a chat with Michael after the game and then he spent 10 or 15 minutes on his own out on the track. What he was doing, I don't know."

Frail is not in the running for the top job after Vladimir Romanov finally decided he needed an autonomous boss but this was hardly the type of performance to encourage candidates to step forward.

The Tynecastle club remain slumped in 10th place in the SPL and are on their worst run since the 1978-79 season.

"I'm in charge until someone else comes in," admitted Frail. "Hopefully, I will have managed to get some points on the board and got us moving in the right direction.

"We've lost 4- 1 and I can't blame anyone. That was my team and my shape - and we lost the game heavily."